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Lila Charif (Milan) is a Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, cookbook author, former fashion entrepreneur and wellness advocate. Born in Iran and raised in France, Lila spent two decades in New York, a decade in London and several years in Paris before settling in Milan in 2025. 

Passionate about her work, Lila talks to Forum Radio host Jessica Fellowes about her rigorous training and her approach to nutrition and health, one which integrates  food, culture and lifestyle strategies to support modern living. She is also the co-author of 'Persian Feasts: Recipes & Stories From A Family Table,' named on multiple lists as the best cookbook of 2024. A key message from Lila is that we should address our health when we are feeling healthy, and ask ourselves how to maintain a good balance. 

'Prevention is everything because you should not be waiting when your body is out of balance or out of sync or where you feel unwell to go and do something about it. It's something you should focus on on a daily level. And I always tell my clients, you know, health is effort. You actually have to put the time in and you have to focus and you have to learn what's a good combination of foods and you have to learn what is better than other.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney.

Music by Alex Vickers

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Steven Hirth (New York) is a longstanding friend and member of Forum 500. Both the consummate East Coast gentleman and a true international, Steven travels widely throughout the year for both work and pleasure. He is the Founder and Principal of S.H.Hirth and Associates, an international merchant banking boutique modelled after pre-World War II European merchant banks. His family office concentrates on North and Central American real estate and global private equities. 

Steven talks here with Jessica Fellowes about the values he holds dear, how his childhood as an immigrant shaped him, the importance of cultivating genuine friendships and, of course, the delights of grappa. 

'One of the ethos which I live by is very simple. To the world, you're one person, and to one person, you are the world. I apply that to all of my investments. When we invest in growth companies or sometimes start-up companies, we focus on bringing our capital to the table. And when I define what, how I define capital, it's human capital, moral capital, social capital, financial capital, cultural capital. I always say marriage is cheaper than divorce. So we don't get involved in many projects, but when we get involved, we immerse ourselves.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Nathalie Latham (Tamil Nadu) was a documentary film maker and photographer until cancer halted her life. Now, she has re-emerged as an artist, with a beautiful book about her treatment, recovery and emergence into her new phase of life. 'I AM ALIVE" is a testament to resilience and creativity, and how the two intertwine. With eloquence and humour, Nathalie talks to Jessica Fellowes about how it felt to surrender to the process of intensive treatment, her move to India and her work as an environmentalist. The podcast ends with Nathalie's moving Love Letter to Life.

'Beloved life, you are my love, my center. I honor you in all I do on this earth with these hands and this heart. In the meal I cook, in the tree I plant, in the hand I hold, in the drawing I create, in the joy I share.Sacred life, beloved life, I am alive.'

You can buy Nathalie's book from nathalielatham.com

This episode was produced by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Elizabeth Linder (Florida/London) has spoken at several Forum events, and we are honoured to have her as our guest this week. She has an extraordinarily insightful mind that manages to encompass the ever-expanding worlds of geopolitics, social media and leadership. She is so clever, in fact, that she although she has worked for Google, YouTube, Facebook and Chatham House, she has never held a position with an existing job description. Now founder and Chief Diplomatic Officer of Brooch Associates, Elizabeth looks after a global portfolio of government ministers and private sector CEOs. Today, it's about building trust rather than a vast number of social media followers: 

"These days I'm focusing so much more on creating spaces for leaders with influence to create spaces where they can bounce ideas and find thought partners from different sectors and organizations to share those ideas and do that kind of thinking that you can only really do when you're not under the scrutiny of so many people around the world."

Produced by Vanessa Heaney

Music by Alex Vickers

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Roozbeh Aliabadi (Lisbon) is an AI education entrepreneur, geopolitical commentator and former military service member with expertise in the Middle East, Central Asia and geo-economics. His insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, USA Today and now Forum Radio! Roozbeh talks to Jessica Fellowes about his mission to make AI education accessible worldwide, as co-founder of ReadyAI. Roozbeh is also an enthusiastic resident of Lisbon, keen to welcome his fellow Forum members there! 

Roozbeh's insight into the position of AI in our world, particularly from the point of view of future generations, is useful and balanced:  "My advice to parents is: don't focus on what your kids should be learning in terms of jobs they will be having in 10, 20 years. Because, folks, we have no idea what those jobs are going to be like. Let me give you a very good example. If you look at the Department of Labor Statistics in the U.S., they have about 740 job categories. Guess what? Every year, about 36% of those job categories are changing, 10% are vanishing, and another 22% are evolving. The truth is, we don't know what jobs are going to be like. So spend your time teaching your kids to be good humans. And then we'll worry about the rest later. On the AI domain, and I cut it short here, is: whoever tells you what AI education will look like in a year, including myself, run away."

Music by Alex Vickers

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Doris loves gemstones. After listening to this episode, you'll understand why – and perhaps have a different appreciation for them yourself. Sitting in her beautiful atelier in Zurich, Forum member Doris Hangartner talks to Jessica Fellowes about her passion for gemology, how she matches personalities to stones, and the changing landscape of gem portfolios with recent discoveries of new and valuable stones. 

"I started buying stones for myself and the company in 2012 and if I compare some of the stones that I now buy, they have x'ed up to five times, so it is an incredibly interesting, beautiful investment diversification and I think it is a very beautiful way of seeing your wealth through your gems."

Music by Alex Vickers

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The luckiest amongst us will enjoy living to a grand old age, but are any of us looking forward to those years? Zurich member Jan Garde is on a mission to ensure that we are... As founder of The Embassies of Good Living, Jan is building mixed-use developments combining retail, leisure and serviced living in the hearts of the world's most amazing cities. The focus on 'contemporary hospitality' is all about what's possible rather than necessary. Most surprisingly, the entry point for their residential Ambassadors is often people aged 60+ rather than 80+.

Jan explains: 'Porsche, the car company, came in early as a shareholder, and they told us, ah, we think, there might be a chance that your customer is younger. So, we opened up a wait list to understand who's our customer, sort of what are their levels of interest, backgrounds, diversity, and age groups, and learned another really interesting bunch of lessons. Back then, let's say, on the global wait list, the average age was between 60 and 65. And now, going to market in Hamburg, we all of a sudden have people that come in at 21 and also at 78. And all joking aside, if you put both of them in the same room, they'll have a jolly good time.'

Music by Alex Vickers

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Would you invest in space? Raphael Roettgen (Zurich) talks to Jessica Fellowes about the ever-expanding universe for investment and why you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get into it. 

Raphael is the founding partner of E2MC, a space-focused early-stage venture capital firm with over 25 space investments to date. As a pioneering and complex VC, he lectures on space entrepreneurship and finance at several universities, is an accomplished podcaster in his own right with ‘Space Business Podcast’ and has written ‘To Infinity,’ an introductory book on the space economy. 

Raphael's vision is compelling: "We  believe – this sounds ridiculously futuristic – but in a 10-year timeframe, which is the timeframe for a venture capital fund like ours, manufacturing of things in space for use on Earth, like biological materials, advanced materials, is going to become a reality. And it may become a very significant reality."

Episode edited by Vanessa Heaney.

Music by Alex Vickers

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Tracy Hall is a former speaker for Forum in Singapore, talking here to Jessica Fellowes about her devastating experience as ‘the last victim’ of serial conman Hamish McLaren, currently in jail for fraud estimated at the value of $60-80m worldwide. Tracy talks to Jessica Fellowes here about the financial and emotional fall out of realising that the love of her life, the man she knew as Max, had defrauded her of her life savings and broken her heart. 

There’s practical advice, too. How to keep healthy sceptism without becoming cynical, when it comes to enticing investment opportunities as well as simple tips to keep yourself safe from AI-led scams. (Use the default voicemail setting, for example, so that your voice can’t be ‘scraped’ and used to defraud others.)

‘What I do say to people is, when it comes to scams, and fraud, and financial crime, the most intelligent thing that we can do is to humbly accept that it could happen to us. And if you start at that place, then you're going to automatically be more vigilant and more aware.’

Tracy’s book, The Last Victim, will be published in the UK in October, and in the US early next year. Further information is on her website: tracyhall.com.au

Episode producer: Vanessa Heaney

Music by Alex Vickers

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Bala Chandra (Dubai) talks to Jessica Fellowes this week about ‘inorganic growth,’ how having a performance psychologist in his staff transformed his company and what Harvard Business school did teach him. 

Bala grew up in India and when he first arrived in London as a programmer, he came down to breakfast and couldn’t understand why he was the only person in the room. He had no idea that such a concept as daylight saving time existed! Now, Bala is the founder of technology group Propel, with 1500 people between US, Europe and India. 

 ‘Whatever your belief system is – God or universe or nature – it is always meant to help you succeed. Every shortcoming is yet another way of finding out.’

Music by Alex Vickers